Delhi govt to lift ban on registering CNG retrofit cars

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government's ban on registering vehicles with CNGretrofitting kits is set to be lifted from all vehicles. The government has asked all authorised CNG manufacturers and dealers to register details to the government's online software database.

"Information relating to CNG kits being supplied by manufacturers/importers to distributers/retrofitment centers for fitment in new/in use vehicles will be captured in this software," said a Delhi government official.

The software, which has already been made available to the manufacturers/importers, will keep a tab of all kits being supplied to the public. "It will thus put a stop to the practice of retrofitment of fake CNG kits," added the official. The availability of the software means that even "in use" vehicles fitted with CNG kits can now be registered.

Till now, only vehicles with CNG fitted by manufacturers was being allowed to be registered. The entire process is expected to become available to the public from next week, added the senior government official.

The Delhi government had in June this year put a ban on the registration of vehicles with CNG retrofit kits. The move had come after Prabhat Kumar of the Aam Aadmi Sena went to L-G, Najeeb Jung’s office, and submitted a complaint and request for an independent enquiry into CNG retrofit scam.

Kumar alleged that fake CNG retrofitting kits, which were not being manufactured by the pre-approved companies, were being installed in cars in the city in collusion with officials from the transport department.

Kumar's complaint came on the heels of similar complaints from government-approved companies that sold CNG retrofit kits. The government has made it mandatory to use the OBD-II system kits, which cost Rs 55,000 approximately.

However, several companies in the city were selling fake retrofit kits that cost considerably less, and most of which are manufactured in China. “People would put these in their cars, and the car would then be registered as a CNG vehicle,” added the official. These kits, said the official, were of inferior quality and often led to problems in the vehicle including incidences of fire.

Meanwhile, the transport department had also filed an FIR against the companies that are selling the fake CNG retrofitting kits, added the official.